House & Senate GOP Leaders Call for AG Tong to Investigate Possible Civil Rights Violations

HARTFORD—House Republican Leader Vincent Candelora and Senate Republican Leader Stephen Harding on Thursday urged Attorney General William Tong to investigate possible civil rights violations at Yale University, where pro-Palestinian protesters allegedly blocked Jewish students from accessing Beinecke Plaza and directed insults at them.

"Attorney General Tong has repeatedly positioned himself as a champion of civil rights, even seeking expanded authority to pursue violations," Candelora and Harding said. "He’s launched investigations over far less—including an undercover video involving a Greenwich principal—and has made a habit of holding press conferences to announce lawsuits and legal actions on a wide range of issues. Time and again, he casts himself as Connecticut’s chief enforcer of justice. If Jewish students were harassed or blocked from moving freely on campus this week, the Attorney General has a duty to act."

Candelora and Harding pointed to Yale's decision to revoke the status of the protest group involved, adding, "with incidents of antisemitism remaining high in Connecticut, Attorney General Tong has a chance to send a clear message: hate and harassment will not be tolerated."

In 2021, the legislature adopted legislation (PA 21-128) pushed by Attorney General Tong which, among other provisions, allows his office to "investigate, intervene in, or bring a civil or administrative action" whenever any person has engaged in conduct that:

• Subjects other persons to the deprivation of any rights, privileges or immunities secured by the constitutions or laws of this state or the United States; or
  
• Interferes, or attempts to interfere, by threats, intimidation or coercion, with the exercise or enjoyment by other persons of any rights, privileges or immunities secured by the constitutions or laws of this state or the United States.